CMS EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS INITIATIVE – NEW REQUIREMENTS

CMS has revised its Emergency Preparedness Checklist applicable to all facility types and distributed it to its State/regional survey and certification staff (and others) indicating that it is currently effective policy.

AAAHC has questions about the reasonableness and relevance of some of the activities described in the checklist tool. We have communicated these to CMS and are awaiting a response. We will update our accredited organizations when we receive this.

IN THE MEANTIME, we encourage you to review the checklist, and your emergency preparedness plan. You can find the CMS document here. Choose “Health Care Provider Guidance” from the left hand menu; the checklist is a download located at the bottom of the page.

We are also working with our surveyors to determine how they should survey for emergency preparedness in the ASC setting in light of these changes.